I was lucky enough to drive Ken?s TR4 and I?m pretty sure it?s got rocket
boosters in there somewhere.
~Steve
> On Mar 13, 2018, at 12:51 PM, John Styduhar via Fot <fot at autox.team.net>
> wrote:
>
> ?I agree with Ken. As long as my car will pass the safety tech inspection, I
> should be able to "fix" my TR any way I like if it keeps me interested in
> this hobby. If I want to shoehorn in a SBC, just put me in a different class.
> ?
>
>
>> On Tue, Mar 13, 2018 at 2:08 PM, Kenneth Knight via Fot <fot at
>> autox.team.net> wrote:
>> It is good to see that other clubs are allowing newer cars into their races.
>> VARA has been doing this for several years so that we could survive, keep
>> the club solvent and the cost of racing reasonable. The future of vintage
>> racing is an expansion to cars from the 80?s and 90?s, they are long past
>> their prime in other venues, cheap and they bring in new drivers. They are
>> in fact ?vintage?, like our cars were in the 80? and 90?s. More important,
>> these are the guys and gals that lusted for a certain hot car of the that
>> era and now have older kids and the bucks to go racing. Without these folks
>> our sport will pass along with us.
>>
>>
>>
>> The same is true of parts. Much of our equipment is worn out and not
>> maintainable without great cost and effort any longer. Gear boxes are an
>> example. I am down to my last good transmission case for my dog box. When
>> that goes, or the gear set is toast, I am making the switch to a modern box
>> (same ratios) that I can maintain. Like many of us I have missed races
>> because of transmission failures. Tony runs a Ford 8? because he doesn?t
>> want to get hurt, and it is bullet proof for racing, even has a weight
>> penalty. A gear box switch is inevitable if we want to keep our cars on
>> track at an expenditure of time and money that makes sense.
>>
>>
>>
>> There are tons of other parts that make engines last longer (and yes they
>> make more power). An old TR motor is nothing but half a Chevy Small Block;
>> those guys spent hundreds of millions developing motor parts that we can
>> take advantage of. Same is true of blueprinting techniques, there are much
>> better ways to build engines than ?back in the day? and if you read a book
>> and learn how to do it the bloody lump lasts twice as long. Last time I had
>> my motor out I could have put the coated bearings with 25 races on them back
>> in. At 36 races I had <5% leak down on the rings and valves. Started out
>> building the old school way, with old school parts, those days are over as I
>> don?t have the time to spend five days in the shop for every day at the
>> track.
>>
>>
>>
>> Oil. There is no such thing as cheap racing oil. Modern oil is the best it
>> has ever been and makes the motor last. I had technical help from Lake
>> Speed who is the ?man? for Joe Gibbs Driven race oil. The stuff is $18 a
>> quart but will last 500+ miles in the car (4-6 race weekends). Just change
>> the filter after every race and add on quart, total cost $30.00. I can run
>> all the way down to 27 wt. (mixing) but just run the 30 wt. racing oil even
>> at +100 degrees in the desert and the oil pressure is always spot on. Tight
>> clearances, light oil and great bearing life, well worth the cost.
>>
>>
>>
>> My point in all of this is that ?vintage? racing is changing, both the cars
>> and the people. We are going to have to accept and adapt or slowly see our
>> sport fade. They will always be a special place for those cars with a 50
>> year race history, prepared exactly like it raced in 1965. For the rest of
>> the grid, and those of us that don?t have cars with history, there are going
>> to be cars with certain changes that get us to the track. Besides some of
>> us are just SoCal Hot Rodders at heart with a touch of ?good ole boy? NACAR
>> ingenuity. Now I need to get back to work on that 85% scale TR-4 body in
>> aluminum, or possible carbon fiber???..Everyone have a great 2018 season
>> racing!
>>
>>
>>
>> Ken
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> fot at autox.team.net
>>
>> http://www.fot-racing.com
>>
>> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
>> Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
>> Forums: http://www.team.net/forums
>> Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/fot/johnstydo at
>> gmail.com
>>
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> fot at autox.team.net
>
> http://www.fot-racing.com
>
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Archive: http://www.team.net/archive
> Forums: http://www.team.net/forums
> Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/fot/steve at
> artwithcars.com
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL:
<http://autox.team.net/pipermail/fot/attachments/20180313/92d24ea3/attachment.html>
|